Back from Vacation and ready for a Nap

Well, we made it back safe and sound from our road trip to California.  The boys were so good on the long drive.  Really truly great.  Which made for a pretty wonderful adventure for us all.  We visited with my brother and his wife and got to see his graduation from Seminary.  I am so very proud of him.  He found his passion and stuck with it, even though I know it wasn't always very easy for him (or the rest of us)!

We had such a wonderful visit with them both, though it was much too short as the boys let me know when we made it home.  We took advantage of our road trip and Jake's time off from work and took our time coming home.  We had an overnite stay in Yosemite National Park.  It was so busy and late when we made it there we ended up sleeping in the car.  Not the most comfortable nite sleep for sure, but it was a memorable part of the trip.  When we woke up, I looked out my window and there were almost a dozen white tail deer in the woods next to us.  We all watched them very quietly for awhile until they bounded off into the forest.  We also saw a black bear, some elk, and lots more deer.  Then we camped in the Redwood National State Park the next nite.  The boys thoroughly enjoyed camping.  Though they did say they wished it came with a swimming pool like the hotels did.  :)

We started home the next afternoon and decided to stay one more nite in a hotel on the Oregon coast.  The boys were quite excited about one more nite of swimming pools and Jake and I were very excited about a nice warm and soft bed to sleep in.

I have to say though, as much fun as the whole trip was, and as great as the boys behaved, I am so glad to be home! It was wonderful snuggling up into my own bed last nite.  We all slept in late this morning.  The  boys slept until 8:30! They have never slept past 7:30 in their entire lives so this was a nice little treat for me and Jake this morning.

Oh, and speaking of my husband... He got quite a promotion at work! :)  I'm very proud of him.  He works so hard and does so much for us and he really deserves this.  He leaves soon to go up for training and then starts working in a new office and not outside in the cold Arctic anymore.

I think maybe next week I'll try to have some pictures posted of our trip.  We're all still readjusting to being home still.  And I'm going to go take a nap...

To Odin

This morning has me in a strange state of mind between happiness and confusion.  You see, last nite after putting two very tired little boys to bed, I finished some minor prep for our road trip starting this evening (yay for road trips!), cleaned up a little, and then climbed into bed early for a change.  I was tired, but had accomplished what I needed to and felt content as I drifted off to sleep.

Upon waking this morning, I realized the boys had not woken me and relished in the fact that I got to sleep in until 6:30.  It was heaven.  I got up and made coffee and sat down at the kitchen table and listened to the birds singing outside and the quiet all around me.  It was a peaceful way to greet the morning.  6:38 rolls around and I hear their quiet whispers to each other, giggles, then the creak of their door opening and the soft patter of their little feet coming down the hall.  Aiden called out a greeting and snuggled into the couch with a few (6 or 8) favorite stuffed friends.  Odin climbs onto the couch, smiles at me and says, "Hi Mommy."

I put down my coffee and went to sit with them.  "Do you know what today is?" I asked.

"Our trip!" Aiden yells in excitement.

"What else is today?" I ask.

"Swimming!" Odin calls out.

"Yes.  What else is today? It's special,"  I prompt.

"Daddy comes home!" Odin yells out.

"It's your Birthday Odin!" Aiden says in excitement.

We both look at him, his hands on his cheeks in surprise, his little body shaking in excitement.  Such a look of surprise and delight that only a child can give.  He reaches up for me, wraps his little arms around my neck and whispers, "Thank you Mommy! Thank you for letting me have a birthday!"

I tell him he's 4 now, and not 3 1/2 anymore.  He grins.  After patting my cheek and giving me a kiss, he climbs down from the couch and stands in front of us, hands on his hips, chest thrust out and says, "Look how much bigger I got today! Aiden I'm so big huh?"

Aiden stands in front of him and says, "Yeah, but you're still pretty small.  I'm always bigger than you cause I'm older."

Any other day, the little guy would have slugged him in the gut, but today, because it's his birthday and he's excited, he reached over and patted Aiden's arm.  "I might be bigger someday Aiden."  True story little man, true story.

So... that's why my emotions are warring today.  I'm happy for him.  I'm happy I've been blessed with 4 beautiful years with him, but I'm a little sad too.  My baby is growing up.  He's really not a baby at all anymore.  He's a wonderful little boy full of such strong emotions and feelings.  As fiercely loyal and loving as he is independent (and independent he is).  He has taught me so much in the short time since I first felt him moving in my belly.  I will cherish those memories of him, but also look forward to what the years ahead will bring.  I know they'll be wonderful.

To my little boy

who isn't so little anymore.

My explorer

Map reader

Gardener

lover of nature

whether cold

or warm

Friend to bugs and insects

animals that fly above us

and those that creep among us

Stealer of my coffee

and my heart

Loyal and devoted little brother

and an absolute ham.

I love you so much little big guy.

Happy Birthday.

So many unfinished projects

How many of you live with unfinished quilts haunting you? Mine pop out of the most random places to haunt and torment me.  Like the other nite, I was inspired suddenly to begin a wonky log cabin quilt with some bright and fun prints and I had a few fun pinks I thought would do nicely in this quilt.  So, I head to the stash in my fabric closet and 2 quilts just waiting to be quilted fall from the top shelf onto my head.  Seriously.  And then, as I'm grabbing the pink I see another quilt that was just waiting for binding (ummm... from months ago) staring at me with a wistful expression.  Yes, quilts can have wistful expressions.  They can also have angry expressions and crazy eyes.  Much like the one dangling from a coat hanger next to me.  Kinda scary.  Needless to say, I grabbed that pink and practically ran from my sewing stash, closing the door firmly behind me.  I don't think I'll be going back in there again until I decide to finish one of those poor little souls.

Anyone else have a regretful amount of UFO's lying about? How do you deal with them? I know I should finish them up before I start another new one but it's just so much fun to start new projects!  Maybe I'll make myself a goal not to start another new quilt until I finish at least 5 of these UFO's hanging around.  Well, after I finish the fun bright log cabin quilt I just started yesterday.  Actually, that's a UFO now.  After all, I did start it already...

Blogging Break

Yes, I took a bit of a blogging break.  I also took a quilting break.  Not intentional.  A lot of things happened in the last few weeks.

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend moved into their new house and we spent the better part of three weeks helping them pack, unpack, move, clean, paint and whatever else needed doing.  During that same time my dad went in to the hospital for a routine day surgery.  Things looked to be going well and then were not, quite suddenly.  Without going in to much detail he has been in the hospital for a few weeks now.  Should be going home this week hopefully.  It was an exhausting and scary time.  I've also been dealing with some of my own personal health issues.  So... I've been spending my days helping family move, running to and from the hospital and sleeping their some nights, visiting with dr.'s, trying to spend some time with my children and husband (the latter of which came home from weeks away at work right in the middle of all this) and generally just trying my hardest to stay above water.  I'm tired, exhausted really.  Both physically and emotionally.  I've had no time to sew or quilt or even think about my fabric for awhile.

Hopefully that will change.  Jake's brother in moved in to his new place and they are set (for now at least) and my dad is on the mend.  This weekend will be filled with helping my best friend Becky and her family move into their new place.  After that, I will definitely be taking some time for myself to sew, quilt, knit, whatever I feel like doing.  Just some time to be alone with my quilting and fabric will be so wonderful.

Hope you are all having a wonderful and productive week.  I will be back to the normal swing of things soon!

Shop Sale

Just a quick note to say I'm having a shop-wide sale starting now through the 15th.  Everything in the shop is 15% off.  Please stop by and take a peek.  It's a great time to stock up on Spring table runners and some quilts for the kids.

I'll be back later to post about some new projects getting finished, and another in the works.

Another Project Finished

So, do you remember me talking about how I finished this hat for Odin awhile back? 

And how I was going to make a sweater for him with the same yarn? Well... I did. 

 I just finished it up late last week and am so proud of it! It's the first sweater I've ever knit before and I think it turned out really nicely.  Odin loves it.  He ran around with it on telling everyone, "Look at my newly made sweater!" And yes, he does have a black eye.  I just know someone is going to ask.  He had a bit of a run-in (literally) with a toy.  

Since I had so much fun knitting this sweater for him and since Aiden respectfully declined a sweater for himself (at least until his sweater from Christmas doesn't fit anymore) I decided to start knitting myself a sweater.  I found the most beautiful and soft purple yarn ever.  I'm loving knitting it.  It's just so soft to touch.

I've made it a long way in the last few days.  If I have enough free time in the evenings I'll hopefully finish it before Jake gets home in a few weeks.  That's my goal anyway.  I do have a lot of quilts and mug rugs to finish up and list in the shop too though, and that's Priority #1 for now.

I finished this quilt up almost 2 weeks ago now and have yet to list it.  

Don't you love how bright it is?

Back with extra blocks and strips pieced in.

This quilt is seriously gorgeous.  The fabric is  It's a Hoot by Momo.  It's still one of my favorite fabrics.  So bright and colorful and the different prints and designs are wonderful.  I need to try to find more of it before it's impossible to get.

I used my little flower bud design for the quilting again.  I love that design. 

I really wanted to finish Odin's sweater before I listed this and then I just had to start this sweater for myself.  I mean the yarn was so beautiful! Walking by it over and over again all day long for several days and my willpower to wait until I caught up on my WIP's caved.  So, even though I'm still working on this new sweater for myself, I have vowed I will get at least 5 things listed by April 5.  Big vow, but I think I can do it. 

Well, I'm off to knit my sweater... uhhh, finish a quilt I mean... no, knit.  Maybe if I just knit for a few hours or 8 I'll get it out of my system for a few days.  Maybe...

A Month in Review

So it appears it's been awhile since I've logged on to my blog and shared anything with you.  Whoops! We've all been a bit busy lately and frankly, I think I just needed some down time.  But, I'm happy to report I'm recharged and freshly inspired and ready to share!

I've finished/started quite a few things in the past several weeks so this post may be a bit long with all the sharing.  If you don't really care about how I made everything and whatnot, feel free to just scroll through and look at all the pretty pictures and 'ooooh' and 'aaahhh' at something every now and then and maybe leave me a comment.  I love comments!

Believe me, I won't be offended if you don't read everything.  After all, my husband only hears about 1/3 of what I actually say and we're happy enough!

First I finished this hat for little guy a while back and don't think I blogged about it.  It was one of my first hats and he loves it.  I love the colors so much I went back to Michaels and bought about 7-8 skeins of it so I can make him a sweater with it.  That's enough to make about 3 or 4 sweaters for his little body but oh well.  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get anymore later. He loves the colors too.  Win/win.

Then I finished 2 of these little hats.  Super quick knitting pattern! I can easily make about 1 hat an hour.  They are warm and soft so the boys love them too.  Aiden took his out for a stroll through the snow first thing.  I even let him go out before he'd brushed his teeth or gotten dressed 'cause he was so excited.  

Here's a better pic of the pattern design.  I used a wider ribbing on the cuff of the hats and really like the way they turned out.  I've now made so many of these hats that I pretty much have the pattern memorized.  Jake has pled with me to please not make any more hats for the boys.  I suppose he's right.  I can't find anywhere else to stuff them anyway.

Then Jake got a neck warmer.  He loves it.  Came in handy while we were tromping around on the land.  He says he also likes to wear it while he's motorcycle riding.

And I knit myself an Infinity Scarf.  Sorry, lighting was kinda bad for this one but I was trying to take the pic myself since no one else was around.  That is one warm scarf! I've worn it quite a bit lately with the weather we've been having.

Then I worked on this quilt.  It was a custom order I got from one of my dads nurses.  She has a friend who's having a little girl soon and wanted a nice quilt for her.  I really love it.  It turned out so soft and sweet.

Then I made this cute little doll quilt for my best friends little girl.  She had a birthday recently and needed a snuggly blankie for her favorite puppy.  I had so much fun making this.  It was the first time I'd ever made a doll size quilt and I'm definitely making more soon! I used nothing but scraps of fabric I already had in my stash.  It was so rewarding to use up some of my scraps and not buy anything new.

This beauty is for sale now in my shop.  I so love the soft, spring colors in this table runner.  I actually planned this one out instead of winging it and was able to get 2 runners from one charm pack.  I have been toying with the idea of creating my own pattern for it, but we'll see.  There's a lot going on right now.

Here's another one from the same pattern.  This is an old collection of fabric I've been hanging onto to make just the perfect table runner.  Let's just say it's been sitting around since before the little guy joined our family.  I finally decided to stop waiting for the perfect pattern and just make something with it.  And you know what? It's kinda perfect.  :)  Funny how that happens sometimes.  It's also for sale here.

And lastly, there's this one.  It's a really fun collection of fabrics called Botany.  It's now out of print I believe but you can still find some of it a few places online.  And guess what? It's for sale too.  here.

Maybe I'll make one to keep for myself one day, but for now, I'd rather be selling them to someone who loves them and doing my part to save up for our new house.

Aiden's Monster Chunk 

Odin's Jelly Bean Monster

Now, one last thing to share that isn't mine but a friends.  A few weeks ago my best bud's kiddos had a week break from school so they all came over one day and we got to sew all day (yay!) while the kids all played.  I managed to complete several small projects but Becky painstakingly worked on a few little blocks all day long.  

Are these not gorgeous?!? Serious amount of work right here people! She's recycling old jeans (some of them are mine!) and little 2.5" squares of fabric in the center to make these Cathedral Window blocks.  She has like, I don't know, probably a zillion blocks to go before she makes it to a lap size quilt, but it's going to be so pretty!  

I just had to get her permission to share these since I loved them so much and I'm never ever going to have the patience to make them myself.  Now hurry up and finish Becky so I can snuggle under it!

I hope you've all enjoyed show and tell! I plan to be back to more regular blogging again.  I've got lots of projects just waiting for me to create them.

Have a great day! I'm off to sew while the boys are still napping.